Definitely notThe Hunger Games anymore! Even though there are a lot battles being fought and normally am not that much into war games kind of stuuf, I am completely absorbed by this series. Haven‘t heard something that thrilling in a long time. The narrator Tim Gerard Reynolds is worth every penny.

I am torn between the interesting settings like New Orleans and a haunted mansion and the adventures like the quicksand that overdid it again. 🙈

… SEVERAL UNRELATED EVENTS … COULD THERE BE ANY CONNECTION? 🙄🙄🙄

Seems like I am a little late for this hype. 🙈 This one started off as a free giveaway by Audible and ended up having me buying the whole series because I couldn‘t listen to all of them in time. 🙈 It has been a long time that I have been this absorbed by a YA dystopian novel, even though the first one is quite similar to the Hunger Games. I still loved it.

The first one of the series and the second I‘ve read and I must say they are hilarious! I will go through all of them! 🤣

And after that it was repeated every five years. So, the older you get, the fitter you needed to be as a pharao. 𓁈𓁈𓁈

Having read some dystopian young adult novels, I must say The Maze Runner is weaker conpared to other ones. The characters don‘t have the chance to be developed and already everything is falling into pieces. I didn‘t get as absorbed as I normally do. It will be the first ans last book of the series for me.

Even though there was finally only one narrative it was oozing with stereotypes and weird incidents as well. Overall, it was quite frustrating because the narrative wasn‘t pushed forward, but Nancy was feeling the same.

Trying to get back on track with my monthly reading. 🙈🙈🙈

Somehow a coming off age story connected by mountains. Even though the novel is advertised as a story of the friendship of Pietro and Bruno, I thought is is the story of Pietro emancipating himself from his father. But both stories ar econnected through the Italian Alps which are a nice theme in the background.

🏔️🏔️🏔️

After reading A History of Great Britain in Ten Enemies and liking it, I had to get something else by Terry Deary and ordered the whole box of Rotten Histories for my students. It is a humorous way to explain important stations in history and they are easy to read for English learners. Since they have been published in the 90ies some of the information is not up-to-date anymore, but that doesn‘t reduce the fun.

Which rotten Roman emperor is the one we are looking fot? 🏛️🏛️🏛️

Nowadays most people think that the only two civilzations that made the West are the Romans and the Greek, but this non-fictional )audio)book proves them wrong. There have been Egyptians, Asyrians, Minoans and many more. Even though I already knew a lot of the information because I am fascinated by ancient civilisations in general, this book gives and extensive overview and a lot of interesting, sometimes funny facts and stories.

Even though the story of a family on the run was quite interesting, especially how it influenced the kids. The reason for their escape seemed a bit dubios to me. In the end it is father terrorizing a family. Again the story is interesting, but the writing is a bit boring.

What a life? Living in Tel Aviv, on Cyprus and in Virginia. But at what cost? All within 3 years.

“A beautiful woman and a handsome thief must unravel the mysteries of an age-old technology to stop a fanatical cult from unleashing an evil that threatens to destroy all the water in the world.” Wow, I have never read such a ln exaggerated blurb. Fortunately, I didn‘t read it otherwise I might not have listen to this audiobook. If you tone it down, it is still a wonderful science fiction story about a pair of youngster who were thrown together by

What was supposed to be a wonderful summer on a nice farm after the war, starts as a miserable stay for Tobias on the wet cliffs of a remote island with only grumpy Lothe to talk to. But there‘s a locked up room that might be the reason for her grumpiness. Can Tobias warm up Lothe‘s heart and solve the mystery? - What a beautifully illustrated book and sad, but wonderful story. I cried in the end - even if it is “only” a children‘s story.

After some very stressful weeks, I thought I was only able to read “easier” stories. I found this beautiful children‘s book in our little free library and well… it is not that shallow. 🙈

When I found another Kingfisher audiobook on Audible for free, I was thrilled. I liked A wizard‘s Guide to Defensive Baking a lot and most parts of the Saint of Steel series were okay as well. But I has to quit this one because all the unnerving things of the Saints series were quadrupled. Both main characters are so insecure I wanted to hit them, it made me physically ache. And this time the backstory wasn‘t that strong to make up for it. 🤦‍♀️

See you next year. 😊😊😊

As a German English teacher I really like reading Agatha Christie. It definitely expands my vocabulary. 💪💪💪

This has been a wonderful, very poetic book. It describes the life of two kids born in and off the desert one hundered years apart. Both face struggles and end up back where they belong - in the desert. This book is a beautiful allegory of the desert, I haven‘t been something that aesthetic in a long time.

Last days on the beach. ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

Audible does definitely have a good strategy: They get you hooked up with free audiobooks, but sometimes I am not able to finish them till the due date. Of corse now I will buy it. 🙈😜🙈

This is a fast-paced coming off age story of a German girl trying to cope with her alcoholic mother. It somehow reminded me of depressive version of Soloalbum, which was written in the aame form 20 years ago. I can understans why German peoplw hyped 22 Bahnen when it came out, but I am not sure if I will read it again and keep it.

I escaped the European autumn weather and went to my old home Egypt for more sun. 😊

This is a very interesting non-fictional overview over Anne‘s life. Because I only watched the different semi-ficituonal series about Henry VIII‘s life, I never realized it took Anne eight years to be married ti the king. On TV it always happens in a shorter amount of time. And in the end she was only married to hin for three years. Seems like the moment he actually had her, he lost interest.

Some background reading: Aldeidge mentions that The Big Four was thrown together shortly after Christie‘s breakdown while she wasn‘t able to write another novel. No wonder it ended up like this.

This didn‘t feel like a Poirot murder mystery at all, more like a James Bond against the world. It can be felt that some short stories were thrown in together with some linking devices to get a new full-length novel. I think I would have preferred the short stories instead.

„it has always seemed to me extraordinary that a woman should go so far in the scientific world. I should have thought a purely masculine brain was needed for such work.“ - Sometimes I do not like Hastings at all. 😡

“Without Africa, and the slave plantation agriculture of the Caribbean that derived from it, there would never have been the kind of explosion of wealth that the West enjoyed … nor such early or rapid industrialization.” And French retraces the pathways of the European countries rampaging through the African continent, meanwhile destroying already existing kingdoms. It is a devastating, but necessary overview over the slave trade.

This is an interesting overview over the different conquests Britain had to endure or was taking. I enjoyed it very much because it‘s not writen in a highly theoretical way, but more jovial. I do not know tge Horribke Histories series of this author, but after reading this one I will order them for sure.

Last days of summer… 😩😩😩

Very interesting book, but a lot of facts mentioned. I think it would have been better to read it instead of listening to it. The first few and the last frew have been the most interesting ones to me (Big Bang, Homo sapies). The ones inbetween on how first life (cells) evolved on earth seemed quite boring to me.

As already posted as a quote this longer essay is challeging the solution to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. In total there are 16 chapters, out of which only 3-4 are interesting. Most of them are highly theoretical, e.g. using Freud‘s theories, but not always putting them into context. I liked the chapters in which Ackroyd was compared to other novels (but giving away a lot of spoilers) and of the ones in which other suspects were discussed.

🤣🤣🤣

Starting a new background check on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd… 💪💪💪

Childress definitely has some interesting insights, e.g. starting off with the water-sewage systems or metallurgy of ancient cultures. Then you keep on wondering if they had those advanced technologies, why not other ones like flying or computers as well. Of course there are a lot of artefacts worldwide that cannot be explained by now, but I am not sure if the lost culture of Atlantis can be the master key for everything because then you can‘t…

Nancy looks a little stoned on the cover of my ebook, but maybe this is how she looked after she inhaled the sleeping fu es? 🤔🤔🤔 The second time in a row I like the story because it made sense most of the times. The notion of hidden pirate ship with a tolling bell made it interesting. Unfortunately for me, the story took a different turn, I liked it anyway. 😊

Once in a while I am in time with my Nancy Drew reading. 🤪🙈🤪

I‘ve read Baudolino a few years ago when I was younger. It was nice to listen to it again. It is still not an easy read/listening, but it was nice to hear the exploits of the notorious liar Baudolino again. And this way you get a funnier view of the story of Frederick Barbarossa (who is supposed to be sleeping at the Kyffhäuser in my home region) and the crusades.

And again, doing some background reading on the current Poirot murder mystery. I would have liked any of the displayed covers compared to the one my ebook did. 🙄

I don‘t get the covers of these cheap ebooks. Somehow I imagined Fernkurs Park to be more opulent, but perhaps I am wrong. It is funny to follow Poirot trying to be an average citizen cultivating pumpkins. For sure he wouldn‘t last long and a murder case would sneak back into his life and Poirot is taking it gratefully. And The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is definitely a good case for a come back.

„There‘s no doubt at all about what the man‘s profession has been. He‘s a retired hairdresser. Look at that moustache of his.“ 🤣🤣🤣 Imagine Poirot being a hairdresser. 🤣🤣🤣

Another case that the Homes brothers are not able to solve and only Enola‘s female insights and her wit make sure there is at least one happy ending. And finally even Mycroft is able to accept her as an equal. Again, the Enola Holmes story are definitely a nice pasttime.

Keeping up with the further reading - I am behind anyway 🙈🙈🙈 - before starting the next Poirot in line. Both books narrate Poirot‘s life as displayed throught the different novels and give background infos on how the novels were written and published.

A new case for Enola. This time a cold case with international entanglements lashes back at Enolas unknowing landlady and she has to rescue her. Along we ger to know Florence Nightingale who gives Sherlock a nice telling-off. 🫶🫶🫶

Just when I was on the verge of quitting the series, no. 22 ends up being one of the best Nancy Drew stories so far. It is only one story that actually makes sense instead of two far-fetched narratives that are weirdly linked to each other.

It‘s not a Nancy Drew story, if there isn‘t a good kidnapping!!! 🤣🤣🤣